


Stormwind Harbor

by agberts



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Basically Alliance Propaganda, Set Right Before Battle for Azeroth, Stormwind, The mildest of spoilers for the end of Legion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 15:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agberts/pseuds/agberts
Summary: As the Alliance prepares for war, a group of children are determined to see the crowds.





	Stormwind Harbor

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a contest on the WoW reddit so I didn't edit it but I thought it would be nice to post either way. Fingers crossed that I win.

We fell in line behind the soldiers when they marched across Stormwind, following them from the Keep to the Harbor. Some of the other children were quick enough or tall enough to keep an even pace behind them, imitating their march, their upright position. I was small and slow, and began to lag, still stomping my way down the cobblestones but no longer with the others. But because of this, I could so much more clearly see how many shining knights in blue and silver filled the streets. I could see the city reflected in the polished plate armor. 

Surie, who was younger than me, tugged on my shirt. “I want to see the ships,” she told me. She pouted, twisting her face up, threatening to cry. “The knights are fast and boring.”

“The knights aren’t boring,” I replied, but I stopped marching along. The rest of them stopped too, most of them friends. “They’re the King’s men, chosen and trained. They’re going to protect us from the Horde or from demons or from monsters! How can you say that they’re boring?”

Dendren crossed his arms. He was a bit older than the rest of us but he was also a dwarf and probably the shortest. “There’s always knights walking through the streets, standing at every gate. I’d rather take the shortcut through the Dwarven District and go straight to the Harbor.”

“You always want to take a shortcut through the Dwarven District and we always get lost,” Tiffany scolded. She was between Surie and I in age but already stood a head taller than both of us. The only reason she had fallen behind is because she wanted to stay with us. 

“The longer we stand around and argue about this, the further away the knights get,” I reminded the group. They all turned to me and frowned. 

“No one wants to follow them but you,” Lorence said. He was the same age as me and we looked similar enough that we could be mistaken as siblings as long as you didn’t hear us talk and catch our completely different accents. “So if you want to run through the entire city in order to keep getting glimpses of feathers, go. Or you can come with us straight to the Harbor and maybe one of the deck workers will let us look at the ships up close.”

“Fine,” I agreed. “But only if we stay at the Harbor long enough for the Knights to show up.” 

The five of us changed directions, turning our backs on the ever-growing procession of children, and took our own path down past the Dwarven District, cutting through Cathedral Square, ignoring Dendren when he suggested alternative routes. As we passed through each gate and each intersection, the guards eyed us like there weren’t always children running down the streets in packs. While Stormwind always buzzed with excitement, there was a bitter edge to this, even worse than when Argus hung in the sky above everyone’s heads. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened on the distant fronts of the war against the demons but there was a day when the entire world trembled a few weeks ago and Dendren had explained to us that was why there was a new war against the Horde. Despite the suspicion, we made it to the Harbor without incident.

I had never in my young life seen such activity at the Harbor. Crowds of people swarmed, covering every plank of wood and foot of dirt, their movement mirroring the crashing ocean, unceasing, cresting into waves of heads and boxes. A sailor spotted us immediately, standing at the edge of the throng, watching with wide eyes. “Do you have anywhere better to be?” she asked us gruffly. “Nobody’s got the time to keep their eyes on gawkers like you.” 

“We want to see the ships,” Tiffany announced primly.

The sailor laughed. “You’d probably get a better view of the ships if you climbed back up to the wall.” She pointed up at the stone directly above us. “Or Lion’s Rest even. Probably the only place in this half of the city you can’t see the damn things is right here.” 

At my side, Surie began to bawl. Us four could tell she was faking but the sailor fell for it. “I just want to see the ships up close,” she wailed. 

Shifting from foot to foot, the sailor frowned down at Surie. “Don’t cry,” she tried to say but Surie only increased her volume. We were starting to attract attention from more sailors and dock workers. “I would let you closer to the ships any other day of the year, little girl. But everyone’s got a job to do. It’d be dangerous if all of you were underfoot.” Surie was still undeterred. 

Another adult approached, dressed in blue and gold monk’s garb. She was one of the many Pandaren who now lived in Stormwind. “You can return to your post,” she told the sailor. Visibly relieved, the sailor left. Immediately Surie stopped crying, sizing up the Pandaren instead. The Pandaren regarded us as well. “Have you calmed yourself?” she asked Surie.

Surie nodded. “I just want to see the boats up close,” she told the Pandaren. “I’ll probably start to cry again if I don’t get to.”

“There is a time and a place for everything,” the Pandaren advised. “And wasting your tears here will do you no good. But since the five of you have made it all the way here, there is no harm in letting you see a ship. Can I trust all of you to remain close together and close to me?”

“Yes,” I said for the group of us. 

She led us through the crowd calmly, never rushing, never tripping or having to walk around someone. Instead, everyone just got out of her way, parting like a river around a rock. “You can call me Aysa,” she told us. “And I cannot tell you a single thing about the ship. I have little understanding of the nautical nature of fighting.” I didn’t care if she couldn’t tell me the difference between a deck and a crow’s nest, I just wanted to get as close to a ship as possible. 

In the end, the sailor was right about the ships being easier to see from higher ground. They were massive and we had to crane our necks all the way up just to get a good glimpse of the mast. I would guess it was taller than most of the buildings in Stormwind. I wished that the sails were down, only because I could barely imagine what they would look like billowing in the wind. On the front was a roaring lion’s head carved from wood and gold plated. Intricate metal and wood work continued down the sides, sleek and well-crafted. The ship stood for power, for civilization, for the Alliance always winning against the Horde. “Wow,” I couldn’t help but say.

“It’s alright,” said Lorence but I could tell he was just as amazed as I was. I elbowed him for lying.

“Is your curiosity sated?” Aysa asked. “We must move to make way for the knights who will use this ship to sail to distant lands.” 

“Thank you,” Surie said. We echoed her sentiment. 

Aysa led us back to the entrance of the Harbor. “I would hope you do not return today. There are better places for you to be, places not filled with the passions of war.” But her warning went straight over my head. I could already imagine myself, in armor, with a sword in hand, defending the Alliance and my home and my family and my friends. I could imagine boarding that ship and sailing across the world to find adventure. 

When the Pandaren left, Dendren turned to the rest of us and announced, “Next year, when I turn sixteen, I’m going to enlist.” And my own dreams faded from my head. Dendren couldn’t go before me, I wanted to be the one who got to protect everyone. 

“You can’t enlist,” Tiffany said. “What if you get hurt or die or something?”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. As long as you lot are here, I’m not going to die. All of you would get too mad at me.” Four pairs of arms wrapped themselves around the dwarf and we stood there hugging, not knowing the planet was slowly bleeding out or the true cost of war fought close to home or how different the world would be in a year’s time.


End file.
